To the stars beyond
Arabic translation: Please inscribe it in English, unless Arabic is a language in which you feel completely at home.
| 19:05 Jun 2, 2002 |
| English to Arabic translations [Non-PRO] | ||||
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|  Selected response from: Fuad Yahya | |||
Grading comment
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| 4 +4 | Please inscribe it in English, unless Arabic is a language in which you feel completely at home. |
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Answers
1 hr confidence: 
peer agreement (net): +4
peer agreement (net): +4Please inscribe it in English, unless Arabic is a language in which you feel completely at home. Explanation: I have given this advice before, and I will keep giving it to all who seek the translation of their sentiments of friendship and love: On Kudoz at ProZ.com, we get a lot of requests for the translation of sentiments of love and friendship that should more appropriately be expressed in the sender's language, unless it is completely unintelligible to the recipient. I may be wrong, but in your case, it sounds as if the recipient is not so clueless about English. If you and he have a friendship that "will keep going" "To the stars beyond," I would assume that he knows enough English to handle a simple phrase. I have been known to make wrong assumptions, and if this is one, please forgive. My advice is about authenticity. "To the stars beyond" is your sentiment, so your friend will probably appreciate it even more when it is poured out to him in your language, your words, not his. To present it to him in a translation will rob your sentiment of its immediacy and add an element of unintended ingratiation. It is as if the point is to impress, not express. I am not trying to put translators out of business. I would go hungry if I did so. But certain things are better kept in their original form, unretouched, untampered with, unmolested. Sentiments of precious friendship are among these things. If your friend's English is not fully adequate to the task, let him be the one to seek a translation. It may be a learning experience for him, or not. But it will at least let him have the original words just as you thought them and felt them. He in turn can write to you in his language, if he so wishes, and then you can seek a translation. We will be here to help both of you. But first, both or you, tell it as it is to each other. Fuad |
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